Jesus would not applaud the overturning of Roe | Opinion

Why have Catholics and evangelicals been rejoicing at the overturn of Roe v. Wade when Jesus wouldn’t be? If Jesus were among us today, I’m confident that he’d picket abortion clinics. In a tender, gentle way he’d implore a pregnant woman not to abort. He would admonish the U.S. for being the abortion capital of the world and tell us that’s an ugly stain on the moral fabric of our nation. However, I’m equally certain that one thing Jesus would never do would be to appropriate the power of the state to force women to have unwanted children.

The methodology of Jesus was always gentle persuasion and gracious invitation, never a resort to state coercion. In fact, Jesus came awfully close to engaging that question when his opponents backed him into a corner with their trick question, “Should we pay taxes to Caesar?” It was a trick question because either answer would give his opponents a way to bring Jesus down. If Jesus said “no” his opponents would warn the Romans that Jesus’ movement was an incipient revolution. If Jesus said “yes,” it would a drive a wedge between Jesus and many of his followers who thought of the messiah at least partly in political terms, someone who would liberate them from their Roman oppressors.

Of course in his inimitably brilliant way, Jesus outsmarted the conspirators with his answer, “Render unto Caesar the things of Caesar and to God the things of God.” So it doesn’t seem like a stretch to conclude that Jesus would contend that a decision as intensely personal as abortion belongs squarely in the purview of the pregnant woman, the father, the family, a pastor/priest/rabbi and God — certainly not the state. I’m not aware of a single instance in the Bible of Jesus seeking to appropriate the power of the state to force people to do what he wanted them to do.

Given my sense of the life and message of Jesus, I can’t resist asking my Catholic and evangelical pro-life friends who fervently believe in life after death, in heaven or hell, “How many millions of people do you estimate are living a Christless eternity because we Christians portray Jesus as an ogre who would appropriate the power of the state to force women to have unwanted children?” I’ve never gotten a single good answer to that question, just incoherent sputtering.

Some people reading this will claim this view is mistaken because it doesn’t account for the fact that abortion takes a human life. That objection is blatantly disingenuous. Catholics and evangelicals have been imposing their morality on everyone else for a century, even when no human life is involved. In 1920, evangelicals (then called fundamentalists), and to a much lesser extent some Catholics, didn’t believe that people should consume alcohol, so they mustered enough political clout to outlaw alcohol. Fortunately, that fiasco only lasted 13 years when it became clear that organized crime was reaping millions, bribery to protect illegal alcohol operations was producing widespread corruption, and Depression-era governments were losing millions in revenue.

Then, for decades in the first half of the 20th century, the roles of Catholics and evangelicals in Prohibition reversed as Catholics took the lead on appropriating state power to outlaw or limit access to contraception. Fortunately, that was mostly a hollow gesture. There were no instances of police breaking down the bedroom doors of married couples searching for evidence of birth control. Thankfully, the Supreme Court put an end to states’ attacks on contraception with its 1965 decision in Griswold v. Connecticut. But predictably, many of the same Christians rejoicing over the overturn of Roe are not bashful about suggesting that free access to contraception is the next issue that should be re-considered by the courts. So what is it with Christians who claim to be following Jesus while constantly doing things that Jesus would never do?

Jim Caraher is a semi-retired real estate investor living in Oak Park, Illinois.